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Chapter 1087: The Tale of the Three Brothers
🕑 Added 2024-04-21 06:23:29 +0000 UTCSpeaking of this, Riddle suddenly paused.
He seemed hesitant, unsure whether to reveal what happened next, as it involved his biggest secret. But the situation before him clearly told him that he had no other choice.
"Then, he asked for my name," Riddle continued after a few seconds. "The guy who claimed himself to be Death, he knew that I was planning to make Horcruxes. I never mentioned it to him, but he seemed to read my mind, and he told me that he would fulfill my wish..."
"So your soul split?" Evan looked at him in surprise, it was really incredible.
"That's right, when I woke up; I had split from my soul, left on this ring," said Riddle. "Believe me, you cursed little brat, my reaction was as surprised as yours, or even more. I was shocked. I didn't do anything, and I didn't know what was going on, but I obviously became a Horcrux. Death fulfilled my wish.”
"A Horcrux made by Death!" Dumbledore looked at Riddle.
"Yes, Professor, do you know what this is about?" Riddle asked, returning to his humble and polite manner.
"Not exactly, but I have some speculation," Dumbledore seemed unwilling to explain further.
Looking at him, a look of annoyance and anger quickly flashed across Riddle's face, and he did not continue to ask.
Since Dumbledore wasn't going to say it, no one could find out about it from him!
But Evan continued to think. ‘What could Dumbledore's speculation be?’
Death granted Tom Riddle's wish, which sounded very much like that tale, The Tale of the Three Brothers.
Evan looked at the ring in the cabinet. Due to the light and angle, the emblem of the "Peverell" family on the ring could not be seen.
But it was definitely there, proving in silent language that this legendary story had really happened.
As early as three years ago, Evan had found The Tales of Beedle the Bar, which included The Tale of the Three Brothers.
That was the only information he could find on the Deathly Hallows, and he remembered the story clearly.
‘There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight.
In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across.
However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water.
They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure.
It was Death, and Death spoke to them.
He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river.
The three brothers had cheated fate, luckily avoiding Death.
But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him.
So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death!
So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother.
Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and he asked for the power to recall others from Death.
So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead.
And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death.
So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death.
And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.
Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death’s gifts.
In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination.
The first brother traveled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel.
Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible.
That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother’s throat.
And so Death took the first brother for his own.
Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand.
To his amazement and delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him.
Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil.
Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered.
Finally, the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her.
And so Death took the second brother for his own.
But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him.
It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son.
And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life.’
The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility, these three items were the Deathly Hallows.
Rumor had it that whoever succeeded in uniting all three of the Hallows would become the Master of Death.
There was no doubt that Death was cunning.
In his original plan, the three brothers were supposed to drown in the river and become victims to him.
After the three brothers escaped the fate of death, he was unwilling to lose the three victims, so he appeared in front of them, saying that he wanted to give each of them a reward, but in fact he wanted to restore their destinies back to death.
The Deathly Hallows - three legendary magic items - were originally three baits created by Death.
In the end, only the wisest third brother had escaped the pursuit of Death and safely reached the end of his life.
In the story of fifteen-year-old Tom Riddle, he had also seen Death and escaped from him.
Death decided to give him a reward, help him make a Horcrux, and help him conquer death...
If this Death was the same as the one in The Tale of the Three Brothers, he would definitely not have such kind intentions.
Evan was almost certain that Voldemort had been cursed from the moment this Horcrux had been made!
He chose power, and so, death will be his final destination.
Of course, the so-called Death did not actually exist, let alone appear in this ring.
Considering that the ring had been in the hands of Salazar Slytherin for a long time, Evan was more inclined to think that the legendary wizard had left behind some kind of magic...
